minstrel: first message on the list & a query

[warden]

Welcome to the list!

On the subject of extracting part of a larger piece into a viable 
melody, I quite agree.  Most of the documented music of the period is 
religious in nature and typically very slow and complicated.  I have had 
some success in finding period tunes buried in larger compositions and 
speeding them up a bit to make them more interesting.

I ran across a tune called "Ne sai, que je die", which, judging by the 
words (below), was a very sad song.  It actually works pretty well as a 
mandolin, lute or flute piece if played in a "sprightly" manner.

Good luck!
Robert Warden
Barony of Caer Galen
(Boulder, CO)

- - - - - - - -
Ne sai que je die
13th-century French, from the Montpellier Codex

Ne sai, que je die,tant voi vilanie,
et orgueil et felonie monter en haut pris.
Toute courtoisie, s'en est si fouie,
qu'en tout ce siecle n'a mie de bon dis.
quar ypocrisie, et avarice s'amie,
les ont si seurpris ce qui plus ont pris.
Joie et compaignie tienent a folie,
mes en derriere font pis!


translation:
I do not know what to say - I see so much villany
and pride and evil gaining high esteem.
Courtesy has utterly fled before them
so that in the whole world there is no more noble speech;
For Hypocrisy and her friend Avarice
have captured those who are most prized.
They consider joy and fellowship to be foolishness,
and behind one's back they do even worse.